


Let Us Adore You

by sodaschemes



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Mind Control, Polyamory, Telepathy, The Author Regrets Nothing, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26203354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodaschemes/pseuds/sodaschemes
Summary: Cole's day goes from bad to straight-up weird after an encounter with a seemingly normal thief. But hey, it's not all bad. At least the others are finally giving him some attention.
Relationships: Cole & Lloyd Garmadon, Cole & Nya (Ninjago), Cole/Jay Walker, Cole/Kai (Ninjago), Cole/Kai/Jay Walker/Zane, Cole/Zane (Ninjago), Nya/Jay Walker, P.I.X.A.L./Zane (Ninjago)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First of all: due to the nature of every relationship in this fic being the work of a villain with the ability to alter minds, the relationships depicted will NOT be healthy! Being under an influence like that means that at least one party can't consent to the relationship as a whole, and that is BAD!!  
> That being said, I do think polyninja in general is cute, but in this fic in particular, no.  
> So I'm going to leave you with a trigger warning for dub-con relationships, mentioned death, mentioned drugs, and mentioned violence. Please don't read this if any of that is going to bother you, and AGAIN, I am NOT attempting to promote these types of relationships.  
> Enjoy the story!

Becoming human again was… an adjustment.

Cole _loved_ how bright and vivid and _physical_ everything was. He liked being able to eat and actually _taste_ it, he liked being able to touch liquid again (of course, he had been nervous around it, at first), he even liked the temperatures around him. As a ghost, he had only felt… cold. Not freezing, but _just_ cold enough to be a little bit uncomfortable at all times.

He liked being able to feel warm.

Still, he _did_ miss being able to walk through walls. He often forgot to open doors, now, and had nearly broken his nose as a result. Multiple Times. And going invisible had been useful, but overall, being thoroughly _human_ , that was worth not having cool powers. Besides, he had a fricken _earth punch_ now, which was totally and completely awesome.

But for all the good, there was still bad. In this case, the bad came in the form of terrible, horrible dreams. Dreams that his friends never remembered him (or worse, had never cared about him at all), dreams that he’d never made it through the rift, dreams that Yang had done worse than just lock him in a spare room.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down from one such dream. When he woke, he had been crying. Sobbing, if the breathlessness he’d felt was anything to go by. 

He’d untangled himself from the sheets, and was now eating a slice of cake in the kitchen while scrolling through Chirper. It wasn’t much of a distraction, but it was the best he had. It was something.

He didn’t want to trouble the others with his problems lest his fears come true. They all needed sleep, Cole could deal with this on his own. He always did.

\---

“Good morning, Cole,” Zane said, coming into the kitchen.

Cole stared at the time on his phone. It stared back at him, projecting “7:00 AM” in his face. Had he really been sitting at the table for _that_ long? 

“When did you get up?” Zane asked pleasantly, opening the fridge and pulling out a carton of eggs.

“Oh, uh, just a few minutes ago,” Cole lied, setting aside his phone. “Whatcha making?” he asked, hoping his attempt at changing the subject wasn’t too obvious.

“Eggs and bacon,” Zane replied, then paused. “And maybe biscuits, if we have the proper ingredients.”

“Need some help?” Cole offered, standing up and stretching. He really _had_ been sitting there for awhile.

“I would prefer to make this meal myself,” Zane said. “Perhaps you can help with lunch?”

Oh. Well… this was uncomfortable. While it was probably just Cole’s lackluster cooking skills that had Zane rejecting his offer, he couldn’t help but listen to the quieter part of his mind screaming _he doesn’t want you around!_

“Yeah, sure. I’ll just… go, then,” Cole said, his voice getting quieter with each word, the last one barely making a sound. He grabbed his phone and left, going back to his room and falling onto the bed. 

Of course Zane wouldn’t want him around, why would he? Cole was annoying and his friends probably only kept him around because his super strength was useful, and he really wasn’t good for much else, was he?

He groaned, shoving his pillow against his face. Of _course_ his friends liked him! They wouldn’t be his _friends_ if they didn’t.

Probably.

A good half hour later, he was still moping about in bed.

A knock sounded on his door.

“I’m coming in, you’d better not be naked,” Kai called, his tone clipped. The door swung open less than a second after the last word left his mouth. “Get up, it’s breakfast time,” he grumbled, spinning on his heel and leaving the door open behind him.

Cole had absolutely no idea what had gotten into Kai, but he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with it. He was having a bad enough day himself, he _really_ didn’t want Kai acting like a bitch all day on top of that. 

Unfortunately, his opinion didn’t matter.

\---

“Can you pass the jelly?” Jay asked, making grabby hands at the little container of jam that was all the way across the table from him.

“Whatever,” Kai muttered, sliding it over to Jay.

“What’s up with you?” Jay asked, spooning the jelly onto his biscuit.

“Nothing! Nothing is up with me!” Kai yelled, stabbing the knife into the tub of butter aggressively.

“Dude, chill!” Jay said.

“I _don’t_ need to chill.”

Nya leaned over to Cole. “He gets grumpy in the mornings a lot.”

“No I don’t!” Kai glared. “I am _not_ grumpy. Screw off, you two.”

Cole recoiled. He hadn’t even _said_ anything, how come _he_ was getting grouped in with Nya? He’d been looking at Cole and Nya, rather than _Jay_ , who had actually intentionally irritated him, and Nya.

_It’s because he doesn’t even like you in the first place_ , the voice whispered.

Cole stared at his plate, forcing the food down his throat. Ha, stupid thought, he really needed to get over this ridiculous little fear of his.

“Wow, Zane, this is some good bacon!” Lloyd announced loudly. “Just some really, really good bacon. And don’t even get me _started_ on the eggs, I mean, not only salt and pepper, but _cheese_ too? It’s like a party in your mouth!”

The others just looked at Lloyd blankly, who was obviously trying very hard to change the subject. It wasn’t working very well, but good on him for trying.

Zane sat up straighter than he had been before. “There is a villain attacking the city,” he said, his eyes blank in a way that meant he was using his internal internet sources.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Lloyd muttered, pushing his chair out from the table and hardly noticing the gross sound of the wood scraping the floor.

The ninja raced to their rooms, throwing their gis on and grabbing their weapons hastily.

They summoned their dragons, taking off into the early morning sky. Zane directed them through the city until they finally came to a stop outside a — ugh, a bank.

Villains just _loved_ stealing money, didn’t they? Sure, the economy was stupid, and standard level jobs had shitty wages, but couldn’t villains just be like everyone else and get a terrible minimum wage job?

Okay, alright, Cole was starting to see where these people were coming from. But still, there were much better options than robbing a bank and _hurting_ people!

Ah well, at least it gave the ninja work to do.

“Stop!” Lloyd yelled as they burst into the building.

A tall figure, decked out in all black, spun around to face them.

“Dammit,” she murmured, observing the six of them tensely.

“Just give up now and we won’t have to kick your ass,” Kai said, though he was already in an defensive position

“It is six against one, your odds of beating all of us are very low,” Zane said, not even reaching for his shurikens.

The woman rolled her eyes, shaking her head to get her bangs out of her eyes. She whistled, and a good few people, all dressed just like her, ran in from the back.

“Oh,” Zane said.

The woman glanced at what Cole could only assume were her lackeys. “Well, what are you waiting for? Attack them!” she demanded.

With that, the battle was on. Cole found himself fighting against one of the woman’s henchmen, and was surprised to find that they were holding their own much better than lakeys usually did. Cole was tempted to unleash his hammer, but as far as he knew, this guy was just a regular human. Cole wasn’t exactly looking to smash this poor guy’s skull in.

Cole dodged a sharp icicle that flew from Zane’s direction.

“Sorry!” Zane called.

“You’re good!” Cole yelled right back. 

The fight raged on.

The henchmen Cole was fighting was beginning to grow tired, if his now increasingly frequent slip-ups were anything to go by. This would be a piece of cake if it continued going this direction.

“You wanna give up now, or do you wanna go home with a bunch of injuries to take care of?” Cole asked, quietly hoping that this guy would be scared enough to actually just stop fighting.

Instead, he just laughed. “Hah, as _if_.”

Well, he’d tried.

Cole threw a punch, just barely missing the guy. He was fast, but Cole was a ninja; he was faster. “Seriously, my _dad_ fights better than you!” he taunted, laughing when the guy let out a frustrated growl.

Dodge, dodge, kick, dodge, hit, dodge — fuck! Cole fell to the ground with the force of the henchman’s blow. With a huff, Cole knocked the guy’s own feet out from under him.

“That…” Cole panted, sitting up while he tried to catch his breath. “That wasn’t very nice.” The guy tackled him back to the floor. “Oh, fighting _dirty_ I see?” Cole huffed, scrabbling with the guy, who was now trying to punch his face in.

“Okay, this has lost its therapeutic touch for me,” Cole hummed, throwing the guy off of him. The guy crashed into the wall, and Cole cringed at how much strength he’d used. But hey… at least he was unconscious now?

Cole bolted to the woman, who, in the chaos, seemed to be attempting an escape.

Cole flipped over her, landing gracefully and blocking her path. “What, you were just gonna leave all your friends behind?”

She actually _laughed_ at that, and it didn’t even sound evil. It just sounded like she thought he was _funny_.

“You amuse me, little ninja,” the woman said, flicking the end of her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. 

“Glad to hear it, but considering you robbed this place, we’re gonna have to put you in jail,” Cole said, steeling himself for a fight.

The woman sighed dramatically. “You’re right. I’ve done a bad bad thing and now I have seen the error of my ways.”

Cole crossed his arms. “Okay, I’m not _that_ stupid—” he cut off with a yelp as she lunged at him. But instead of attacking, like he thought she would, instead she placed her hands on either side of his head. 

For a moment, Cole felt like TV static.

“Huh,” was all that she said, retracting her hands and shaking them out like they were wet.

“What…?” Cole asked, blinking a few times to clear out the fuzz that had taken over his vision.

By the time he was steady on his feet again, the woman and all of her henchmen were retreating.

“After them!” Lloyd yelled.

The other ninja, who were on the floor (why were they on the floor? Had they really _all_ managed to lose against their opponents? Had Cole just gotten lucky that the henchmen he’d been fighting was far less skilled than him?), sprung up, chasing after them.

By the time they got outside, the bad guys were throwing themselves into a car. The car roared to life, and was already heading for the main road.

Cole was _not_ letting them get away that easy. He ran after them, thankful that they weren’t actually going that fast yet. The others were keeping up behind him.

“Stop!” Cole yelled, his feet pounding against the pavement.

The woman who seemed to be in charge popped her head out of the passenger seat window. “It’s not me you should be worried about, little ninja!” she yelled. “Good luck with your friends!” with that, the car left them completely and _utterly_ in the dust.

Cole came to a stop, hunching over with his hands on his knees as he panted. They really should have driven here, huh? 

But what had that woman _meant_? Why shouldn’t he have been worried about her?

He turned around, surprised to see Jay looking like he was about to hurl.

“Oh man…” Jay muttered, swaying a little on his feet. “I don’t know how hard she hit me, but it did _not_ feel good…”

“She hit you?” Cole asked. Hadn’t he been the only one to fight her directly?

“She snuck up behind me while I was busy fighting one of the others,” Jay groaned. “And it really, _really_ hurt.”

“She hit me too,” Lloyd nodded. “So hard I fell over.”

Cole was surprised when the others nodded along, expressing that she had hit all of them. All of them except for Cole, that is. Did whatever she had done when she touched his head count as hitting him?

“She was just taking advantage of us being busy,” Zane said, though he was blinking at an abnormally high rate. “We should… we should get… get back,” he panted. Cole found it odd that _Zane_ was breathless. How could a _nindroid_ get out of breath? 

“Sure thing,” Nya said, leaning against Jay. “Is it hot out here?” she asked, fanning herself with her hand.

“Not really?” Cole said, beginning to get concerned. There was definitely something sketchy going on. Why were the others suddenly so… feverish? Maybe they had just all gotten sick at the same time?

Okay, that was incredibly unlikely.

Still, he was getting a little freaked out.

Regardless, they were able to fly back home without incident. 

Cole opted to take a shower first thing, while the others went about their own business. They were probably fine, fighting tended to exhaust them sometimes. Especially when it was early in the morning.

He was grateful he’d brought his clothes into the bathroom with him to change before coming out, because the second he opened the door, there was Kai. 

It looked like he’d been waiting outside the bathroom for quite some time, which didn’t make much sense, seeing as they had plenty of other bathrooms available.

“Can I help you with something?” Cole asked.

“Sort of. I just wanted to say sorry for my behavior earlier, I shouldn’t have snapped at you, you didn’t deserve that,” Kai said. 

Cole stared at him. “Did Nya make you do this?”

“What? Dude, no! I just really wanted to apologize, I know you’ve got that whole anxiety thing, and I just needed to say that I’m sorry.”

Cole continued to stare. There was no way that Kai was being _serious_ . His apologies were never, _ever_ like this. While he did usually apologize for acting like a bitch, it was usually more awkward and uncomfortable, and not completely entirely sincere like this seemed to be. Not to say he didn’t usually seem sincere, but this was _different_.

Still, he didn’t feel like starting a fight, especially not directly after Kai had just apologized. “Thanks,” Cole said, feeling incredibly awkward. Kai casually walked away after that, hands in his pockets.

That was… strange.

Cole shook it off, going back to his room. Maybe Kai was just feeling really, _really_ nice today. Or at least, since sometime after breakfast.

While that didn’t at all seem like what probably happened, Cole really didn’t want to think about it right now. He’d taken some bad hits, and right now he just wanted to rest.

He fell onto his bed, rolling onto his stomach and holding his pillow underneath him. He could probably sleep for _ever_.

He intended to do just that, but _just_ as he was drifting off, while he was in that nice little grey area between being awake and being asleep, there was an _obnoxiously loud_ knocking at his door.

“Wha’?” Cole groaned, sitting up just enough to be able to see.

The door swung open, revealing a very enthusiastic looking Jay.

“Wha’ do you wan’?” Cole asked, shifting slightly so he could fully sit up.

“Want to play video games?” Jay asked.

Cole stared at him. “Weren’t you doing something with Nya?”

“Well, _yeah_ , but I’d rather hang out around you!”

Okay, _okay_ , Jay was definitely trying to pull something. Jay would never, ever, _ever_ , neglect Nya. Ever. Especially not for _Cole_.

“Okay, what do you actually want?” he sighed.

“I just said, I want to play video games. With you!” Jay said, looking at Cole expectantly.

Cole just looked right back. There was no way Jay wasn’t trying to pull something. There was just no way. If he knew Jay (and, considering they were best friends, yes, he knew him), then he probably wanted to borrow money or something. 

Still, playing video games did sound nice, so he’d play along. For now.

“I’m coming,” he said, rolling out of bed onto his feet. “Go set it up.”

“Okay!” Jay exclaimed, running out of the room.

How one person could have as much energy as Jay always did, Cole had no idea.

Playing video games was fun, for the most part. But it was a little strange, to say the least. Jay kept _apologizing_ when he beat him, for one. What may have been even _more_ concerning was that any time Nya was brought up, Jay completely changed the subject.

By the time they had almost beaten the game, Cole _had_ to ask.

“Hey, are you and Nya doing alright?”

Jay glanced at him out of the corner of his eye as he frantically smashed the buttons on his controller. “I think we’re doing decently, why?”

“Uh, because every time I mention her you totally change the subject!” Cole said, nearly crushing his controller in his haste to make his character fight.

“No I don’t! … So anyway, how are you?”

Cole paused the game, throwing his controller down. “Okay, what’s _up_ with you?” he demanded, facing Jay and crossing his arms. He wasn’t going to take another one of these bullshit answers again. He was _getting_ a clear answer, whether he had to pry it out or not.

Jay just looked confused. “There’s nothing up with me!” Jay said, very defensive.

“Then would you mind telling me _why exactly_ you’ve been acting like this?”

Jay sighed, turning away. “Okay, the truth is…” _finally_ , he was going to get a clear answer. Would it have really been that hard to do this in the first place? Whatever it was couldn’t be that bad, Jay had to know that Cole would understand. “I don’t… feel anything for Nya. Lately I’ve felt more like… well, more like I love _you_.”

Wait… _what_?

That — he — no? That didn’t make any _sense_ , Jay was head over heels for Nya, and since when had he been into guys? And why tell Cole _now_ ? None of it added up! Wasn’t he planning to _propose_?

“You _what_?” Cole asked, embarrassed when his voice only came out as a squeak. Maybe Jay had misspoke.

Jay looked at him, then scooted closer to him until their bodies were almost pressed together. Jay looked deeply into Cole’s eyes, like their very souls were being connected. “I,” Jay said, articulating very carefully. “Love. You.”

Cole swallowed, pushing Jay away a little bit. “But… what about Nya?”

“What about me?” Nya asked, coming into the room.

Cole flung himself to the other side of the couch, but Jay didn’t move. Jay didn’t even look like he felt _bad_ . What was going _on_?

“I, uh, nothing about you!” Cole stammered frantically.

Jay turned to Nya, and then, in a tone far too casual for this sort of thing, said only three words. “I’m dumping you.”

Nya raised her eyebrows. “For Cole?”

Cole shrank back. He expected outrage, yelling, and all-out _wrath_ . What he _wasn’t_ expecting was… 

“Yeah, that makes sense. If he was into girls I’d want to date him too. But it’s okay, cause it just means I get the best brother ever.”

The best brother—? No? She only referred to Kai like that? Why did she just say that about _him_ ? And why did she sound so calm? Why wasn’t she _upset_ ? _What was going on_?

“Well, have a good time you two!” Nya chirped, heading for the door. She paused with her hand on the handle, turning back to them. Was it just now hitting her? Was she going to kill him? Oh _no_ , he was going to die, and for something he hadn’t even done!

“Oh, and Cole, you look great today!” she said. And then she _left_.

Cole stared after her. This couldn’t be real. This was all just a weird dream. That had to be it.

“So… what do you think?” Jay asked.

Cole opened his mouth, then closed it. While he admittedly _did_ like Jay, something about it felt wrong and forbidden. Less than 10 minutes ago he’d been happily dating someone else. But now…

There was just so much to take into consideration. He liked Jay, he _did_ , but he sort of kind of also liked Zane. And Kai.

He really wasn’t a functional gay, was he?

“Can I uh… think about it?” Cole asked hesitantly.

“Of course! Just let me know,” Jay said with a wide smile. And with that, he left the room, humming all the way down the hall.

Cole sighed, falling back against the couch. Maybe he wasn’t dreaming. Maybe he was on drugs. Maybe he was in a coma. Maybe he was _dead_.

Eh, he’d been dead before.

What he _hadn’t_ been before was the object of a cute boy’s affections. And _that_ was so much more confusing than being dead.

Luckily, he wasn’t left alone with these thoughts for long, because that was just when Lloyd came in. 

“Hey Cole!” he greeted, sitting beside him on the couch. “You wanna watch Starfarer with me?”

“I don’t really like those movies,” Cole said, expecting Lloyd to give a slightly less enthusiastic nod and then watch it on his own.

“That’s okay, we can do something you wanna do!”

Why did he even _expect_ things anymore?

“We could go to the zoo, cause the zoo has animals and you love animals, or we could go to the bakery cause you love cake, or we could maybe go for a walk cause — I dunno, so you can connect with your element?” Lloyd said, rattling off each suggestion so fast that Cole could barely keep up.

“Uhh… I dunno, the zoo sounds fun?” Cole said, hesitant.

Lloyd smiled brightly. “Sounds great! I’ll go put on my shoes!” He raced out of the room, presumably to go find said shoes.

Why was Lloyd so _enthusiastic_ ? Well, actually, it _was_ the zoo, he could see where Lloyd was coming from on this one.

Cole stood up, stretching a little bit before he began heading for his own room. 

Maybe he’d been looking too deep into things all day. Maybe his friends really had just decided to give him attention. It didn’t quite explain the whole Jay dumping Nya thing, but, well… he supposed it wasn’t the wildest thing in the history of Ninjago to happen?

Weird things really _did_ happen to them all the time… maybe Jay really _had_ just lost interest in Nya.

And maybe Nya was just really insanely sick, and that was why she wasn’t mad. Yeah.

Maybe he really did need to go to the zoo. It sounded like a good way to get his mind off things.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cole's day only goes from weird to worse.  
> Until everything flips around tomorrow.  
> In other words: Cole is fucked. And then he _gets_ fucked. (non-graphically and with consent, of course)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clear things up, it is in fact platonic between Lloyd and Cole and Nya and Cole. We don't fwt here.  
> Thanks for the reviews, and enjoy the next chapter!

The zoo was probably the most normal experience of the day. Lloyd was a little overly enthusiastic, but that was probably because he was sort of a kid still. Ish. 

“You wanna stop by the candy store?” Cole asked on the way back.

Lloyd’s eyes, which had previously been droopy with sleepiness, snapped open and _lit up_ . “Do you even have to _ask_?”

Cole laughed. The two managed to get to the candy place without incident (which was honestly a surpringing bit of luck, considering they were _them_ ). Frankly, the fact that they had managed to avoid any terrible thing happening since this morning (letting that woman get away hadn’t exactly been the desirable outcome), was more than surprising.

“Pick out whatever you want,” Cole said, heading for the isle that had licorice.

Lloyd had a _field day_ , of course, being the candy addict that he was. It was actually kind of amusing.

“You know,” Lloyd said, holding a bag of candy and munching on a pack of milk duds, “This is why you’re my favorite. But don’t tell Kai.”

_And now it was just right back to weird_. 

Kai had taken Lloyd out for candy _plenty_ of times, and so had the others. How did one nice day equate to Cole suddenly being Lloyd’s “favorite”?

_Maybe_ all of his friends were planning Cole a surprise birthday party and were trying to distract him from it.

Half a year away from his birthday.

Okay, that seemed pretty unlikely.

Whatever. He really needed to stop overthinking this and just accept that it felt good to have all his friends treat him like this.

It really did feel good, actually. This morning he’d been so freaked out, but now, listening to their words… 

Wait! That must have been it. Someone had figured out that he’d been having a bad day and they had teamed up to make him feel better! His friends were so sweet.

Confident that he’d figured it out, Cole let himself relax as he and Lloyd continued browsing the store. 

Now that he wasn’t as worried, he actually managed to have a pretty nice time.

\---

The two of them got home, about to call out their presence, but the sound of yelling stopped them short.

It didn’t seem to bother Lloyd all that much though, who only paused for a second before skipping off to his room to stash his candy or something like that. Cole didn’t want to eavesdrop, but whoever was yelling was yelling _loudly_. He could hardly make out what was being said, actually.

He followed the sound to the kitchen, only to find Kai, Jay, and Zane in what seemed to be a heated argument.

Cole paused in the doorway, unnoticed. It looked pretty serious, maybe he should just let them be.

“Hi Cole!” Kai yelled, the other two immediately shutting up.

“Oh, you’re back!” Jay exclaimed.

“How was the zoo?” Zane asked.

Cole looked between the trio in concern. What the _hell_ had he interrupted?

“Uhh… it was pretty good?” he offered, feeling more than a little uncomfortable with all of their eyes on him so intensely. “You know what? I’m gonna go take a shower.”

Did he really _need_ to take a shower, especially considering he’d already had one today? Well, no, absolutely not. Was he going to anyway, just to get the hell out of here? Yes, yes he was.

The others bid him farewell, but Cole could hear the arguing whispers as soon as he was out of sight. He was just glad he had no idea what they were actually saying. That was one can of worms he was going to stay _out_ of.

\---

Being a ninja, Cole was in and out of the shower pretty quickly. It wasn’t rushed, per se, but he was just a quick-showering kind of guy. Which was probably good, because some of the other people he lived with (and he wasn’t going to name any names, ~~but he was talking about Kai~~ ) took _astronomically_ long showers.

Actually though, he couldn’t help but wonder what Kai could have _possibly_ been doing in the shower for that long. And that wasn’t even counting the period of time he took after he got _out_. He just didn’t get it. He probably never would.

“ _Dinner time_!” Jay screeched from down the hall.

Cole hurried over to the kitchen. The others — at least, Zane, Jay, and Kai — were already there.

Cole, uncomfortable under their gazes, picked up a plate hesitantly. “Uh… looks great, Zane…” he said, busying himself with scooping some food onto his plate. 

“Thank you! I made your favorites, if my memory serves me correctly,” Zane said, carefully removing his pink apron and hanging it up on its hook.

Zane had made Cole’s favorites? That was actually really sweet! 

“And may I say, you look lovely tonight, Cole.”

“Hey, I was gonna say that!” Jay whined, glaring at Zane for a moment before turning back to Cole with a smile. “You look lovely tonight, Cole!”

Zane frowned at him.

“Aww, thanks guys,” Cole said, looking down to hide the sudden heat in his cheeks. Considering not one, but two of the guys he liked happened to be treating him like… well, like this, of course he was feeling a little flustered. 

Lloyd, Nya, and Sensei Wu entered the kitchen.

“Dinner smells delicious, Zane,” Wu said.

“Thank you, Sensei!” Zane beamed.

Pixal came in next, hugging Zane from behind. Zane stiffened, probably startled, but turned to smile at her.

The eight of them began to eat. Dinner was amazing, as usual. Zane just had a talent for cooking. Cole didn’t know what it was.

All throughout dinner, Zane kept glancing at Pixal with this sort of… contemplative frown. Cole hoped they weren’t having problems, those two were so cute together! Even if he would rather have Zane for himself, but — shit, Jay had already asked him out, he really didn’t need to be thinking about Zane right now.

What he needed to be thinking about was Jay. Definitely Jay.

Oh, but Kai was looking _really_ hot tonight — he needed to stop.

He could be a functional gay. He could _definitely_ be a functional gay.

It happened just as they were starting on dessert. Zane had made a delicious, rich chocolate cake, and _gosh_ it was so good.

Cole was halfway through his slice when Zane spoke up.

Zane cleared his throat. “Pixal, we need to have a discussion.”

Pixal turned to face him, gesturing for him to continue.

Zane seemed completely unbothered by the many pairs of eyes now on him. Wu just kept eating his cake.

“I do not… I do not think I can continue in this relationship.”

Pixal stared at him, laughing a little bit in disbelief. “What exactly are you saying?”

“I am breaking up with you.” Zane said.

Cole was pretty sure it had never been more quiet at the dinner table. Nobody said a word, and suddenly all eyes were back on their own plates, acting like they were minding their own businesses.

Cole risked a glance up. Pixal looked absolutely _shattered_.

“But _why_?” Pixal asked, blinking furiously. “What happened?”

Cole was just shocked Zane would do this in front of _everybody_. At least almost everyone else had the decency to look uncomfortable, but seriously, Zane was better than this!

“Cole,” Zane replied, so casually that it hurt.

All eyes were suddenly on him.

“Wait, _what_ ?” Cole asked, feeling terror seep into his heart at the way Pixal was looking at him. Unlike Nya had been, Pixal was _definitely_ upset.

“I… _Cole_ ? You’re dumping me for Cole? Out of nowhere? I don’t _understand_!” Pixal said, looking both angry and devastated at the same time.

“I’m in love with him. I feel nothing for you.”

The scrape of Pixal’s chair against the wood was _loud_ as she stood up and stormed off.

Cole watched after her helplessly.

What the _fuck_ had just happened?

Cole glanced between his friends (who were all still staring at him), but quickly decided that he needed to follow Pixal. She was _so_ upset, and while she would undoubtedly be angry with him, she needed to know that he was there for her.

He ran after her, ignoring the others. She needed him more.

“Pix?” He called, knocking lightly on her door. 

“Go away.” She replied from the other side.

“Please, I… I need to talk to you,” he begged.

He heard her sigh. The door opened.

Cole entered, his heart pounding. For a moment, they said nothing, just sat beside each other on the bed.

Cole was the first to speak. “I promise I didn’t know he was going to do that. I didn’t even know he _felt_ like that, I swear, he’s never acted like it or anything and—”

“I am not angry with you,” Pixal said, her voice quiet. She was staring into her lap, her fists tight by her sides. “You have done nothing wrong. I am upset with Zane, no one else.”

Cole breathed a quiet sigh of relief. At the very least, he wasn’t going to die tonight.

“I just… this feeling, it’s… different than anything I’ve ever felt before. And I don’t… he’s never once acted as if he’s been unhappy in our relationship. It all seemed so genuine, but now I don’t know how much of it was real, and how much of it was… artificial.” Pixal admitted.

“I wish I had the answers for you, I really do. I don’t know _why_ he would do that to you, and so _suddenly_ , but… ugh, I’m so _sorry_ ,” Cole said, putting a hand on a now crying Pixal’s shoulder.

She sniffled, throwing herself around Cole in a tight hug. 

They stayed like that for a long time, Cole rubbing circles into her back as she sobbed. He could only hope that he was being as comforting as he was trying to be.

It took a long time before she finally pulled away, but Cole didn’t mind. She obviously needed this. Pixal wiped her eyes with her sleeve, sniffling again.

“I’m sorry for crying on you,” she muttered.

“Hey, no, that’s okay. I want to be able to be there for you. And… I just want you to know that I won’t do anything with Zane if you don’t want me to.”

Pixal considered this for a moment. “I would not be upset with you if you did. I think _I_ just need some time. Feel free to do whatever you wish with him.”

Cole opened his mouth, then closed it. Shit, now he had to actually choose between Zane _and_ Jay. How the hell was he supposed to do that? Besides the bitch move Zane had pulled tonight, they were both so… ugh!

He didn’t think Zane would pull a stunt like this unless he was really, _truly_ unhappy. _Something_ must have happened between him and Pixal, but it wasn’t Cole’s place to ask. Still, something in his heart wanted Zane for himself.

Fuck him and his stupid crush on literally every other boy on this team (except for Lloyd, because that was disgusting).

With his luck, Kai would confess his undying love for him next.

———

Cole was going to end himself for jinxing this.

Kai just looked at him earnestly.

Of course, of _course_ , before Cole had even had the chance to get back to his room, Kai had just _needed_ to tell him that: _oh yeah by the way,_ **_I’m in love with you_ ** **!**

What were the fucking _odds_?

“I’ll… can I just get back to you in the morning?” Cole asked. He was too tired for this. He was way, _way_ too tired for this.

“Yeah, sure!” Kai said. He went off to his own room, unbothered.

Where almost all of his friends had suddenly gotten the courage to tell him this, he had absolutely no clue.

Cole sighed, shutting his bedroom door behind him and just hppy to finally get some peace and quiet. He was _exhausted_ , but now that he was finally lying down, sleep wasn’t coming.

It was hitting him, very suddenly, that holy shit. The three boys he happened to really, really like, _all_ liked him back. 

Holy fuck. 

Oh man, what was he going to _do_?

\---

The next morning, Cole woke up late. Sensei must have been in a good mood, because he almost never let them sleep in. Or maybe he just didn’t want to have to deal with their teenage drama anymore.

Cole rolled out of bed, thankful he’d actually managed to get some rest. If he had any luck, he’d be able to figure out what to do today.

But how could he choose between them? They were all different, all so desirable. How could he ever choose just one of them?

Lucky for him, he didn’t have to. 

The trio all but cornered him as he was making his way to the kitchen.

“Can we talk?” Kai asked.

Oh boy. This seemed a little intimidating. Were they angry with him? He didn’t remember doing anything, but… well, they could still be angry. Who knew why.

Regardless, Cole agreed, shifting on his feet nervously. The anticipation was going to kill him. Again.

“The three of us are interested in you, as you know,” Zane began. Okay, so this didn’t sound like anger. But he was still incredibly curious as to where this was going. “And, though we initially argued over you,” Wait, was _that_ the argument he’d walked in on? They’d been arguing over _him_? “We have come to the conclusion that we don’t want you to have to choose.”

“Okay…” Cole said, still having absolutely no clue what the point of this was.

“How do you feel about dating all three of us?” Jay asked.

Cole took a moment to process that.

Well… that was _one way_ to solve this. But he hadn’t even known that the other three were _into_ that.

Honestly he had never actually even thought much about polyamory. Not for himself, at least. It was just a concept he wasn’t all that familiar with. Really, it wasn’t a bad idea… 

But could he see himself in a polyamorous relationship with all three of the boys he liked? 

Short answer: it was a very tempting idea.

And if they were all okay with it… well, he didn’t see anything wrong with trying. He didn’t see anything wrong with figuring out his sexuality and what he was comfortable with through this, as long as they were all consenting.

Plus, this way he wouldn’t have to choose between the three of them.

“I’m… open to the idea,” he said.

The other three shared a look. “So, you would be comfortable if all four of us dated each other?” Zane asked.

“I think so,” Cole said, nodding a little to show his agreement. “Yeah, yeah I think so.”

And that was that.

Really, all his worry from the day before seemed a little stupid now. It had all been solved in less than ten minutes, and now Cole had not one, not two, but _three_ boyfriends. Damn, his luck was finally turning around.

The rest of the day was surprisingly calm, compared to the day before. While yesterday had been nothing short of completely and utterly weird, today was… nice.

Lloyd and Nya hung around most of the day, and the others — his _boyfriends_ now — hardly left his side. It was an odd feeling, but it was welcome. To actually be wanted, to _know_ that he was wanted… he really liked that.

It was a gentle thing, that first day. The most that really happened was Jay holding his hand practically every time they were in the same room together, but Cole thought it was sweet. He liked the way that the others were acting. Yesterday they had been intense and a little bit weird, but today they had pulled back just enough to be comfortable. Comfortable was nice.

\---

In the morning, besides a sleepy kind of happiness that flooded his brain when he woke up being cuddled by the others, Cole just really, really hoped that miraculously, nobody else had been home last night.

Or at least that somehow they hadn’t been able to hear.

Jay stirred lightly, sighing in his sleep and pulling himself closer to Cole. Cole smiled, running his fingers gently through Jay’s curls.

He liked this. He liked this very much.

\---

The next few days were good. There weren’t any bad guys to deal with, and Wu was being merciful, for once, so training wasn’t all that intense. Of course, he’d hardly seen Pixal… 

He felt bad for Pixal, he really really did. She must have been _heartbroken_. He’d never seen her cry like she did that night. His heart ached for her.

He hadn’t asked Zane why he’d decided to break up with her like that. He didn’t want to, honestly. It would be too uncomfortable a topic, and while Cole was curious, he could live with the assumption that it was something about Zane’s robotic nature.

While he was _far_ from completely robotic, and maybe even more human than any of them, Cole felt that at least a little bit of him was likely to be… a little bit unhuman. But that was fine, that was fine. At this point, like half the team had been inhuman at some point. Jay had been a snake for a day that one time, Cole had turned into a ghost (and _wow_ was he really fucking enjoying getting to feel again), and Kai… okay, Kai was regular. In the best way, of course.

That was still three out of six — oh, _and_ Lloyd was part dragon and part oni! That meant it was the majority of the team!

The point was, Cole didn’t mind Zane’s robot-ness. Although, thinking about it, since he was dating Zane now, maybe they needed to have a talk about why dumping Pix like that wasn’t okay… 

He could do that another time. Cole had never really been in a serious relationship before, but he was pretty sure it was a big rule not to talk about exes.

From down the hall, Cole could hear someone coming.

“Hello my love,” Zane said, approaching Cole from behind and wrapping his arms around him. Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear, he supposed. Not that Zane was anything like a devil.

“Hey,” Cole hummed, turning his head slightly so he could see his boyfriend’s beautiful face.

“What are you doing?” Zane asked, looking over Cole’s shoulder.

“Trying to cook,” Cole said, holding up a jar of spices to emphasize his point.

“Would you like some assistance?” Zane asked, reaching for one of the jars.

“That would be nice,” Cole said, turning around so he was properly situated in Zane’s arms and cutting off his reach for the jar. “‘m tired,” he mumbled, resting his chin on Zane’s shoulder.

Zane laughed softly. “I trust you had a nice time last night regardless?”

Cole flushed at the memory. “Yeah,” he said, pressing his face into his lover’s shoulder in embarrassment.

“I’m only teasing,” Zane said, kissing Cole’s cheek and then gently releasing him from his hold. “Now, let’s get started on cooking.”

———

It was rare that Cole had the time on his hands to actually sit down and do art. He’d been able to sketch when he actually had the time, but he had really been in the mood to paint recently. Lucky him, nothing huge had been going on, and he finally had some time on his hands.

He set up his space, setting out a crappy tablecloth in case he made a mess. 

He set some soft rock music on his phone to help get him into the right mood and poured some paint onto his pallet. Theoretically, he should have been able to start now.

Except he had no idea what to paint.

He’d had plenty of inspiration just a few minutes ago, but now it was all down the drain. Well, this was just great.

“Heya Rocky,” Kai said, coming in without so much as a knock. “The others and I wanted to know if you wanna go do somethin’.”

“Not right now,” Cole said, furrowing his brow as he stared at his canvas. “Maybe when I’m done.”

“What are you painting?” Kai asked, coming closer to observe the blank canvas. “Ooh, I really like the white, it goes _so well_ with all the other white.”

Cole rolled his eyes while Kai just laughed. “I don’t know _what_ I’m painting,” he sighed, dropping his paintbrush in defeat. “I could have painted anything a couple minutes ago, but now I just don’t know.”

Kai grinned mischievously, going around Cole and hopping on the bed casually. “Well, that much is obvious. Paint me!”

“I don’t have enough red for that,” Cole said, shaking his head. 

Kai’s grin only grew. “I don’t think you’re understanding,” he said, fiddling with the hem of his shirt and very slowly stripping it off. “Paint me… like one of your French girls.”

Cole stared at his boyfriend, trying to determine whether to congratulate him on the idea or laugh at the stupidity of the line. “Did you really just…?” he finally asked, raising his eyebrows at a now shirtless Kai.

“Yeah,” Kai said, laughing. “But don’t try to tell me you don’t think it’s a great idea.”

Cole couldn’t really argue.

\---

Cole was really beginning to enjoy nighttime.

Sure, there was a lot less actual sleeping involved most of the time, but at least when he actually got a _chance_ to sleep, his boyfriends were there to comfort him. It was nice.

(But also, _damn_ , Kai was hornier than he’d ever thought was _possible_ . He hardly ever slept at _all._ )

Scratch that, Cole couldn’t talk. 

Plus, it wasn’t like the other two weren’t just as bad. All in all, they were an active bunch, okay?

Speaking of the other two, where the hell was Jay? Cole hadn’t seen him in hours. Which, obviously, if Jay was just craving a little alone time then that was fine, Cole totally got that. But he was getting a little bit concerned at this point. Jay hadn’t even been at lunch, and he had a high metabolism. He _needed_ to eat.

He nabbed an apple from the kitchen, then began to search for Jay. 

Naturally, he found him in his workshop, slaving away over… well, he wasn’t sure what specifically he was doing.

“Hey Jaybird,” he greeted, approaching the workbench Jay was seated at.

“Hi,” Jay replied, taking a moment to smile at him before going back to whatever he was doing.

“You missed lunch, you know,” Cole said, tossing the apple and catching it again. “What are you working on?” he asked, sitting across from Jay and looking down at his work.Jay, his brain finally catching up to him, all but threw whatever he was working on underneath the table. “Nothing!” he said, smiling very unconvincingly.

Cole was well aware that it was more than nothing, but Jay was making it clear that he didn’t want to talk about it, so he wasn’t going to pry. “Okay,” he shrugged. “Well, if you’re done with all that nothing, then come on, you’ve gotta eat."

“Are _you_ going to eat?” Jay asked, leaning the side of his head on his hand.

“I already ate, _you_ haven’t.”

“Will you sit with me while I eat?” Jay asked again, using those damn puppy-dog eyes.

“I have things to…” Cole trailed off with a sigh as Jay’s puppy-dog eyes only got sadder. “Yeah, okay, fine,” he laughed, tossing the apple at him. “Come on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah <3  
> Don't worry, there's more coming ;)

**Author's Note:**

> If you were curious, when the lady "hit" Cole, she was reading his mind, and when she then proceeded to "hit" the others, she was altering their minds. Cole just didn't take notice because he was busy recovering from that.


End file.
